Cae seat



2 Sheets-Shet 1. H. B. COBB.

GAP. SEAT. l f No. 318,450. Patented May 26, 1885.

(N-o Model.) 2 Sheets-'Sheet 2.

H. B. COBB.

GAR SEAT.

` No. 318,450. Patented May 2,6, 1885.

To rtZZ whom may concern,.-

Be itv known that I, HENRY B. COBB, a citi-j zen of the United States,residing at filmingt0n, in the county of New Castle and State oiDelaware, have invented certain new and use` ful Improvements inCar-Seats; and l hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andiexact description of the same. As seat-back arms are ycommonlyconstruct-i ed, and as they are seen in common use, to per-r mit thereversal of a car-seat the bar is piv- `otally connected at one end tothe seat-arm, and rigidly connected at the other end to the end of theback midway of its height. As thus constructed, it has been necessary,in order to give to the back the requisite incline and at the same timea suitable height from` the seat, to have the seat-back arm inclineddownward from the pivotal point, and to give to the back aheightconsiderably in excess of that which is necessary for comfort. To givethe back a height of about twenty-two inches from the seat,(the ordinaryheight,) it has commonly been made twenty-eight inches or more inbreadth, the back extending six inches or more below the level of theseat. From this several serious disadvantages arise, Aone of which is,that the backs are unnecessarily cumbersome; another, that the curve ofthe back is 3o thrown below the natural curve in the back of theoccupant of the seat, producing discomfort; a third, that in reversingthe back sweeps through so large an arc as to be inconvenient, and afourth, that there is a serious and uuavoidable waste of the variousmaterials used in their manufacture, and this waste is espe- Aciallyfelt in the matter of the plush covering which is employed. The width ofplush as universally n'ianuiacturedis twenty-four inches, and as aresult it cannotbe laid either lengthwise or crosswise upon backs of thesize in common use without loss of material. The more economical way oflaying the plush on such backs, which are ordinari] y about thirtyeightinches long, is with the seam in avertical direction; but this involvesa waste of several inches ofmaterial for each back, since a double widthconsiderably exceeds the length of a seat. It is estimated that thewaste of material resulting from this excessive width of back, in suchin which a height of twenty- UNITED i' STATESL PATENT Ott-ICE,

HENRY E. conn, or WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, AssieNoETo THE HALE a KILBUENMANUFACTURING COMPANY, -oE PHILADELPHIA, rA.

CAR-SEAT.

sPEcIFreATIoN forminggpagrt of Letters PatentNo-31a45o, aaa-a May26,1885. Application filed September 13,183. (Noy model.) V

two inches above the level of the seat is attained, is about thirty-three and one-third pcr cent. of the amount used. ltlhas therefore been aproblem heretofore to form the backs of car-seats ot' such a breadth asto extend-just to or only a trifle below the level of the seat, andstill give to them the requisite incline. For this purpose the backhasbeen pivotally connected to the seat-back arm; but as aback gested forautomatically locking the back against such pivotal action at eachreversal.'

The diiliculty with such devices, however, so

yfar as I am aware, is that they are too complicated to be practicable;and the object of my invention is to overcome all the difficulties namedby mechanism simple in its construetion, whereby it can neither addmaterially to the cost of manufacture nor get out of repair, and isinvariably certain in its operation.

In the drawings, Figure l is an end elevation of a car-seat providedwith my improvement, and with a part of one ofthe arms broken away; Fig.2, a side elevation of my improved seat-back arms,with part of thesocket-piece broken away to show theinternal construction; and Fig. 3,aperspective view, enlarged, ofthe outer end of the pivoted bar.

A is the socket-piece, secured to each end of the back B. C is the bar,pivoted at one end, as usual, to the arm D of the seat. The end of thebar which enters the socketois curved, as shown at u, and is providedwith a curved transverse slot, t, through which a bolt, s, passes,securing itin place. On opposite edges ofthe head of the bar, near theend, are formed shoulders r, and the length of the socket must be notless than the breadth ofthe head, inclusive of these two shoulders. At ashort distance from these shoulders a shoulder, q, is

formed upon the face of the bar, and the most convenient way offormingthis shoulder is by casting that part ofthe bar which enters thesocket thinner than adjacent parts, as shown in the drawings.

From the above construction it is obvious that, owing to the play of theslot t upon the bolt s, whichever way the back is turned, the upper edgeofthe socket,when the back reaches its normal position, must drop downagainst the upper shoulder r upon the bar, and that the lower part ofthe socket must bear against thek lower incline of the shoulder q. Theshoulders r or the lower edges of the socket may be made slightlybeveled, if preferred, to produce a tight fit.

When the back is in its normal position, it

^ is not liable to be disturbed by the jolting of the car, owing to itsinclined position, and it cannot be tilted forward by the knees oI" thepassengers in the seat behind, since the upper shoulder always serves asastop. It will thus be seen that the above construction aords, whicheverway the back is turned, an automatic lock, so far as the abovetwofsources of disturbance are concerned.

For the prevention of reversal,the seat-back arm is provided with arecess, p, to lpermit it to be locked in the usual manner.

- The above construction permits the bar C, instead o f incliningdownward from the pivotal point, as it must to afford the requisiteincline when rigidly connected to the back, to lie horizontally, or toincline upward from Y its pivotal point, still allowing the back to havethe requisite incline, so that the back need be made no broader than isrequired to afford the height necessary for comfort alone. It is obviousthat the greater theA upward slope that is given to the bar C from itspivotal point upon the seat-arm the sharper must be the angle of theshoulder q to afford a proper incline to the back.- The constructionshown in the drawings is the one which I prefer to employ for theembodiment of the principle of my invention. Various mechanical changesmay be made, however, without departing from the principle, and suchobvious mechanical changes are intended to be included in my claims. Forexample, the slot, as before implied, may be either in the bar C or inthe socket A, since its function of imparting tothe back the shiftingaction referred to would be effected either way; also, any form of stopother than the shoulder q may be employed at thev proper points-as,forexample, lugs or pins near the edges of the bar or shoulders upon theedge similar to the shoulders r-and even though the shoulder g or anysubstitute therefor were wholly dispensed with the locking would stillbe effected through the medium of the slot and bolt, or equivalentsthereof, and stops analogous to the shoulders r.

' 'Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'-V lI l. The combination of apiece, A, provided with a socket, a bar, C,provided at the end which enters-the socket Ywith a slot, t, and withshoulders or stops r, and a bolt or pin passing through the socket-pieceand slot for securing the parts together, whereby the bolt is shiftedfrom one end of the slot to the other with each reversal of theseat-back, and tipping of the back is prevented by the bearing of thesocket-piece against the shoulder, substantially as described.

` 2. The combination of the piece A, provided with a socket, bolt s, andbar C, said bar being provided with the shoulders r and q and with theslot t, substantially as described.k

HENRY B. COBB. Witnesses:

ERNsT FRIEDENTHAL, DOUGLAS DYRENFORTH.

